From the Archives: Horchata-Flavored Ice Cream, Perfect for Grilling Season

The flavors of Mexican horchata—rice, almond, and cinnamon—come together in this extra-creamy ice cream. [Photograph: Max Falkowitz]

There are those who have a sweet tooth. I am not one of them. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy dessert and I'll happily dig into one when it's set in from of me. But what I really, truly love, way more than sugary things, are creamy things. I'd sooner dip my spoon into a bowl of unsweetened whipped cream than eat a candy bar. Give me crème anglaise, and I'll drink it like a milkshake. Give me a milkshake, and I'll drink it like crème anglaise. *

Oh, and ice cream. During college, I'd eat a pint in one sitting on a weekly basis, which I knew was not a good long-term habit for my arteries. Eventually, I settled on a solution: stop buying ice cream. And just like that, my uncontrolled ice-cream indulging came to an end.

This is all to say that I am once again in trouble, because I now work with Max Falkowitz, ice-cream guru extraordinaire. Since I started working at Serious Eats, Max has whipped out brilliantice-creamcreation after brilliantice-creamcreation. And I have eaten quite a bit of each and every one. But of course Max has been making great ice cream recipes for Serious Eats since way before my tenure here. Which got me thinking, what have I missed?

So I asked him, "Max, if I were to shine a spotlight on one ice cream recipe from the archives, which one should it be?" Hmm, he messaged back to me, this one is very, very good. And he sent me the link to his horchata ice cream, flavored with all the components of the classic Mexican rice-and-almond drink.

And I have to say, the timing couldn't be better: During grilling season, what ice cream flavor could possibly be a more perfect endnote to a menu of grilled Mexican specialties, like roadside chicken, chorizo with spicy tomato-caper sauce, elotes (grilled corn on the cob with crema and cotija cheese), and esquites (basically elotes in a cup, without the cob).

See what I did there? Yup, I just planned your next grilling party menu.

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About the Author

In his restaurant days, he cooked at some of New York's top American, Italian and French kitchens - starting at the age of 13, when he began staging at the legendary restaurant Chanterelle. After college he spent nearly a year working on organic farms in Italy, where he tended to livestock, harvested wine grapes, and planted an olive orchard and a vineyard. Five years later, he returned to Europe, this time harvesting almonds and Padron peppers in Spain, shepherding a flock of more than 200 sheep in Italy, and making charcuterie in France. When not working on, thinking about, cooking and eating food, he blows off steam (and calories) as an instructor of capoeira, the afro-brazilian martial art.

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